Lola's Italian Kitchen & Market — Restaurant in Natick

The owner must have picked "Italian Deli" out of a hat because Lola's is the furthest thing from authentic Italian food that I've had in a very long time.

The good: the atmosphere is nice, but does too much to convince you that an Italian family owns the place (because the food won't).

The bad: I ordered "The Tuscan" which is a grilled chicken sandwich that is allegedly supposed to be served on focaccia. Unfortunately the sandwich actually came on ciabatta, which means the owners either think ciabatta is the same thing as focaccia, or are simply too cheap/unskilled to buy/make actual focaccia. Disappointing.

The pesto was good, but the chicken and roasted pepper were completely flavorless, and frankly the sandwich was pretty small.

The ugly: my girlfriend ordered the Italian combo (pictured with this review) and wow was it an affront to the human culinary anatomy. To start, the cold cuts were genuinely awful, think of the cheapest cold cuts you can get from the deli soaked in water for a few hours.

Further, the cold cuts included mortadella, hot ham, and salami, which does not make a proper Italian combo (where's the pepperoni and prosciutto?) Even subway gives you pepperoni...

Finally, even IF what ever deity you believe in descended from the heavens to prepare you the most fantastic cold cuts imaginable, this sandwich would still be awful because the ratios were all off. The bread (also awful) was too thick and overpowered every bite. 95% of the other volume was made of lettuce (they served the bitter end of the lettuce as well, ew) the rest is made up of a single slice of each of the cold cuts and a single slice of cheese (CHEAP).

I'd literally rather slave away at a 9 to 5 for a decade to save money to open my own farm, just so I can raise the livestock necessary to make my own Italian combo then ever eat...

i was craving a specific type of sandwich when i found this place on google last month and have already been here almost once a week! cute little italian deli right in downtown natick. they have a HUGE selection of sandwiches/subs you can literally come here every single day and order a different sandwich for weeks lol. i have already tried a few and everything is so good.

sandwiches i've had: the tuscan (this is what i was craving that originally brought me here) got it with chicken cutlets and it was SO GOOD. i loooove pesto and it was delicious. the focaccia was also really really good.

steak & cheese (have already ordered it twice) delicious! the steak is tender and cooked perfect on a super soft sub roll.

chicken club (added american cheese) basically just a really damn good “fried” chicken style sandwich. love those chicken cutlets!

chicken parm sandwich. i mean it's chicken cutlets, red sauce and cheese on that delicious sub roll, what's not to like.

all of the sandwiches have been HUGE and i really love the breads they use. they do not skimp on the proteins either. other thing's i've tried are the traditional arancini, pesto tortellini salad and fried raviolis. i'm obsessed with the fried ravioli i order them every single time. they're delicious even when they're cold and the marinara is amazinggg. haven't gotten around to pastas or pizza, but this has quickly turned into one of my...

After finally choosing the chicken broc alfredo calzone, out of all the choices Lola's offers, and some great gluten free cupcakes I was ready for the cashier to ring my order. (In the midst of all of this indecisiveness I overheard how wonderful the man in the photo for Lola's Google search was to his customer. From there I knew I was in the right place.)

The story doesn't stop there. When I got to the counter and waited for the calzone I got from the fridge to be heated up, because you can do that there :) (saves so much time btw), I overheard a birthday song being sung to one of the gentlemen that work at Lola's. As they sung, my cashier reassured me my calzone was almost ready, which I appreciated. After that, the gentleman from the photo asked if I'd like a piece of cake! Never have I ever felt such a family presence at any resturant. I, of course, did not turn down the delicious chocolate cake and went home to eat all of what I got and did not regret a penny spent.

I will deffinitely go back to Lola's because you can not beat a service as welcoming as your own Italian family along with a great selection of food!...